Ruthless Man City humiliate Chelsea

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero scored a second consecutive hattrick in a 6-0 demolition of Chelsea during their encounter at the Etihad yesterday, in the process tying Alan Shearer's record of 11 Premier League trebles. Photo: REUTERS

Afp, Manchester

Sergio Aguero grabbed a hattrick as Manchester City scored four times inside 25 minutes to thrash Chelsea 6-0 and leapfrog Liverpool again to top spot in the Premier League on goal difference on Sunday.

Aguero should have had even more than three as the Argentine missed a glorious early chance and hit the bar in the second-half in a humiliating afternoon for Maurizio Sarri's men.

Raheem Sterling started and ended the scoring and Ilkay Gundogan also netted in the first quarter of the game as City ended what could have been a testing week with a trip to Everton in between the visits of Arsenal and Chelsea with maximum points.

Manchester City's all-time leading goalscorer Aguero should be "cherished", Sterling said after the match.

"It was a terrific performance from the team -- the manager set us up and got us ready for the game," Sterlingtold Sky Sports.

"Sergio is a player we depend on. You saw with his first strike putting the ball in the top corner -- you have to cherish players like that.

"It was just a win and another three points. The most important thing is to get three points."

Man-of-the-match Aguero, speaking about a glaring first-half miss, told Sky Sports: "I don't know, sometimes it happens. The next one I scored. The important thing is to get the ball and for the team to win."

On equalling Alan Shearer's record for Premier League hat-tricks, he added: "I have to continue the same way, but it's important to win."

Earlier, Mauricio Pochettino saluted Tottenham's fighting spirit as they kept alive their bid to gate-crash the Premier League title race with a 3-1 win over Leicester on Sunday.

Pochettino's side took the lead through Davinson Sanchez's first goal for the club, but they were indebted to Hugo Lloris for saving Jamie Vardy's spot-kick after the interval at Wembley.